York, giving out everywhere that he was come solely to claim his father's inheritance, as duke of York; a pretext which probably availed him much, by furnishing the timid or neutral with a pretext for noninterference. From York he marched to Doncaster, passing, on his route, near Pomfret, where lay Lord Montague, at the head of a force which Dr Lingard, without any qualification, affirms to have been "sufficient to overwhelm the invaders." This, however, is utterly improbable: the brother of Warwick was an able and enterprising commander, nor can there be any question of his fidelity to the cause he had now embraced. It is quite clear that he only abstained from fighting because his soldiers were unequal, either in numbers or quality, to the hazards of a conflict with a band so determined and so resolutely led, as that which defiled within four miles of his castle walls. At Nottingham, he was joined by six hundred men; at Newark, the duke of Exeter and 4000 men fled before him, without striking a blow; at Leicester his little army had increased to upwards of 6000 good soldiers, and he marched at once on Coventry, where Warwick had sheltered himself behind the strong fortifications of the place. Edward here challenged the king-maker' to personal conflict, and on the earl's refusal, took possession of the town of Warwick, where he was joined by his brother Clarence. He was now at the head of an effective force, and, resuming the royal title, he pushed forward for the capital, which he entered on the 11th of April. Warwick and Montague had by this time formed a junction, and were following him on the road to London, when the king drove in their advance at Barnet, in the neighbourhood of which town the battle was fought, April 14, 1471. There appears to be little doubt of the Lancastrian superiority in point of numbers; but this disadvantage was more than compensated by the conduct and brilliant valour of Edward. His left wing was outflanked, and, notwithstanding the gallant efforts of Lord Hastings, driven from the field; but this disaster was more than retrieved by the king's fierce and decisive charge on the Lancastrian centre under Somerset, and by the success of the right wing of the Yorkists, commanded by the duke of Gloucester, who succeeded in turning the enemies' left, though the great earl himself was there. Both the Nevils fell, and this, the death of Warwick especially, was of higher importance than the mere victory could by any possibility have been. The 'king-maker' bore a charmed name, that, in common belief, secured success to whatever cause he might undertake. Edward's work, however, was not yet done: on the precise day of the battle of Barnet, Margaret landed at Weymouth, and was joined by her partisans, including the duke of Somerset, and the other leaders who had escaped from the rout at Barnet. A powerful army was collected, and it became a matter of question whether it were wiser to make for the northern counties, where the house of Lancaster had a powerful interest, or to move at once for London. In either case it was necessary to evade the vigilance of Edward, who was placed in the difficult situation of making his anxiety to come to immediate action subordinate to the necessity for watching the two roads to the north and to the capital. He manoeuvered with uncommon skill, and, by two or three forced marches, compelled his enemies to make a final stand at Tewkesbury, on the 4th of May. Their position was exceedingly strong, but Edward ordered an immediate attack, and, after

a severe conflict, which the ability and bravery of Somerset, the Lancastrian commander, rendered for some time doubtful, obtained a splendid victory. Many of the leaders of the defeated party took sanctuary, and the king at first promised to spare their lives, but afterward ordered their place of refuge to be forced, and this act of violence was speedily followed by their public execution. A yet darker deed has been charged upon his memory; it is asserted by the greater number of historians, that when the heir of Lancaster, a fine youth of seventeen, the only son of Henry and Margaret, was brought prisoner to the tent of Edward, and to a taunting question made a spirited reply, the savage victor struck him on the face with his gauntleted hand, a signal too well understood by Clarence and Gloucester, who completed, with their swords, the murderous transaction. There are, however, other authorities which speak of the prince's death as occurring in the field. Henry did not long survive his son; on the 22d of May, he died in the Tower, and general belief has fixed the guilt of his death on the duke of Gloucester; but independently of this common credence, there does not appear sufficient evidence for the imputation, while there are strong reasons for acquitting him of a crime unprofitable to himself, and tending only to strengthen the cause of those who stood between him and the throne. If Henry were murdered, his fate was, no doubt, hastened by the vigorous efforts of Lord Falconbridge, in behalf of the fallen party, and which were at one moment formidable enough to call Edward abruptly from the scene of his triumphs at Tewkesbury. Margaret of Anjou was made a prisoner, and, after a lapse of five years, obtained her release, on payment of a ransom: she died in 1482. Wretched, indeed, must have been the remaining years of that proud and unrelenting princess. The blood of her brave and loyal nobles had been poured out like water in her cause; her husband and her son had perished in the sanguinary struggle; and, with all this, she must have felt that, in her savage treatment of the duke of York, she had but taught "bloody instructions, which, being taught, returned to plague the inventor."

Edward was now seated firmly on his throne, but his greatness was in the hour of action, not in the season of repose. He commenced a war with France; but his ministers were bribed by Louis XI., and he suffered himself to be persuaded into a pacific course. But a darker cloud was hovering over him; the domestic curse which filled his family with feuds and murders, began its deadly work, and its first dire impulse was the shedding of a brother's blood. The duke of Clarence appears to have been weak, selfish, and ambitious. During the life of Warwick, he suffered himself to be made the mere tool of that aspiring noble, and after Edward's restoration, he quarrelled with the duke of Gloucester on pecuniary matters. In this variance, which was never made up, he was decidedly in the wrong; in the affair which led to his destruction the blame lay with the king. Clarence was highly popu lar, and this was enough to keep alive a spirit of jealousy in his brother. who became suspicious of his intentions, and when a fair chance presented itself to the duke of obtaining the hand of the heiress of Burgundy, interfered to prevent it, instigated, probably in part by the queen, who was anxious to procure so advantageous a match for her brother,

Lord Rivers. Farther dissensions, and, it may be, domestic intrigue, led to a fatal catastrophe; Clarence was condemned by the house of peers, and put to death in the tower, February 17th, 1478. Reckless and hard of heart as Edward had become, he was constrained to feel that, Cain-like, he had slain his brother: from that time he became more and more irritable, and frequently lamented that no one had been found to intercede for the life of Clarence. His own death was at no great distance. In the midst of active preparations for the invasion of France, he was seized with a malady which terminated his life, April 9, 1482.

Such were the leading events which distinguished the career of this man of brilliant, though perverted faculties. His eminent mental and personal endowments he degraded into the mere auxiliaries and incitements to sensual gratification, and his popular manners were but the specious covering to a vindictive and despotic temper. His parliament knew that he was not to be trifled with; and during the latter years of his reign he established a system of police which placed the entire realm under a jealous and severe inspection. Yet, amid these unfavourable circumstances, the nation advanced in all that constitutes national prosperity. It may be questionable whether this were owing to a judicious administration of the powers of government, or to the energy and activity of the native character; but the fact is certain.

Edward V.

BORN A. D. 1470.-DIED A. D. 1483.

LESS than three months included the entire term between the accession and deposition of this young prince, and with little more than this brief notice the history of his nominal reign might be dismissed, were it not for the convenience of making this the place for a general exhibition of the state of parties and circumstances at this eventful season. The queen and her family had, as has been already intimated, availed themselves of their situation to accumulate among themselves and their friends the chief offices of influence and profit; and he late king, in the contemplation of his approaching death, made all his dispositions with a view to the confirmation of their authority. Their friends, however, seem not to have been numerous, and the more powerful of the nobility, offended probably by the rise and rapacity of an inferior family, were hostile to their claims, nor did they adopt a course of policy either wise or vigorous enough to meet the urgency of the crisis. The proposal to surround the young king with an efficient body of troops was overruled. The queen's brother, Lord Rivers, suffered himself to be circumvented and arrested by the dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham, without means of resistance, or chance of escape. Respecting the views of such other of the nobles as were active in political affairs, it is not easy to speak with decision. Lord Hastings had been the per: sonal friend of Edward IV., and was now, as it should seem, faithful to the cause of his son; but he was the determined enemy of the queen's

'Hall.

family, and gave his effective assistance to the scheme for their destruction. In this state of things, the prospect of civil commotion became hourly more threatening, and nothing prevented its immediate outbreak but the bold, rapid, and unscrupulous conduct of the duke of Gloucester. That prince was, when his brother died, in the north, and on hearing the news, caused his nephew to be proclaimed. He then set off immediately for the capital, and on his road became master of the royal person, maintaining the most respectful demeanour, and professing the most devoted loyalty. In London, the council of state met at the tower, where the young king resided, but a more subtle and more powerful divan held its consultations at Crosby house, the residence of Gloucester, who had been appointed protector. The work of usurpation was hurried fiercely on, nor were even the forms of justice observed in its bloody transactions. Lord Hastings was beheaded without a trial, on the 13th of January, 1483, and as little ceremony was used in the execution of Earl Rivers, Lord Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan. The next step was to gain possession of the queen's younger son, the duke of York, and these preliminary outrages having removed all present difficulties, after a little manoeuvering, the mask was thrown aside, and the duke of Gloucester assumed the title and the state of royalty. His accession bears date, June 26th, 1483.

Richard, Duke of York.

BORN A. D. 1410.-DIED A. d. 1460.

By the death of Edmund, earl of March, the hereditary pretensions of the house of Clarence became vested in Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, the son of Anne Mortimer. Richard, however, was only fourteen years of age at this time, and, therefore, did not excite any serious apprehensions on the part of Henry VI., then filling the throne of England. During the contentions which ended in Gloucester's death, the duke was engaged in foreign service in France; but, on the demise of that nobleman, he was called upon to relinquish his post in Normandy, in favour of the duke of Somerset. This invidious preference provoked the indignation of York, who shortly afterwards impeached the duke of Somerset for the loss of Normandy and Aquitaine. It was, however, fortunate for York, that Somerset should have thus superseded him, for he was thereby saved encountering that shame and obloquy which the inevitable surrender of the possessions of England in France drew down upon his successor. His appointment to the government of Ireland failed to satisfy his ambition, or allay his discontent; and, in 1452, he quitted that country without the permission or recall of the king, and proceeded to his castle in Wales, whence he set out for London with a retinue of 4000 men. Arriving at Westminster, he obtained an audience from Henry. His conduct in this interview is differently represented by different writers. In the preamble to his subsequent attainder, it is stated that he introduced armed men into the presence-chamber, and that he retired covered with confusion at the king's rebuke; but, in the Paston letters, we find the following passage, which sets his behaviour in a more favourable light :

It is said that my lord of York has been with the king, and departed in right good conceit with the king, but not in great conceit with the queen." Margaret is supposed to have boldly charged the duke with treasonable practices, and to have urged his instant committal to the tower; but it is certain that the duke prevailed upon Henry to summon a parliament, and in the interim he retired to his castle of Fotheringay. He was scarcely gone, when Somerset arrived from France; but he had lost the confidence of the people by his loss of Normandy, and York's party hesitated not to impeach him. Early on the sitting of parliament, Young, one of the members for Bristol, after insisting on the necessity of naming the heir apparent, the king being yet without issue, boldly moved that the duke of York should be declared heir; but the suggestion was ill received, and Young was sent to the tower to expiate his boldness in confinement. After a prorogation of six weeks, the two houses met again, and York openly accused Somerset of misconduct and corruption in managing the affairs of France; but the queen's influence upheld the favourite, and York, after having nar rowly escaped assassination, withdrew in sullen discontent to his castle at Ludlow. He now summoned the tenants of the house of Mortimer to his standard, and marched upon London, but finding the gates shut against him, turned towards Dartford, where he entrenched himself upon a heath, and fortified his camp with artillery. The king closely following his opponent's route, drew up his forces at Blackheath, and despatched a deputation to inquire the cause of his kinsman's hostile appearance. York made the usual protestation of loyalty, but declared that he had been driven to take up arms, in consequence of the repeated attempts which had been made to indict him of treason, and for the security of himself and the people at large against the wicked designs of these malevolent men who now shared the king's councils. He pointed to the duke of Somerset, by name, as the chief cause of his own and the nation's grievances, and demanded that he should be forthwith put upon his trial. It was deemed prudent by the king's friends to affect the appearance at least of concession to these demands. The king assured him that he still held him to be a true and faithful subject, and his own well-beloved cousin, and likewise assured him that a new council should be immediately appointed, of which he should form a member, and which should decide all matters now in dispute or debate. For his more thorough satisfaction and assurance, the duke of Somerset was reported to be in custody by the king's command. Satisfied with these concessions and promises, York instantly disbanded his army, and repaired alone and uncovered to Henry's tent, where, to his surprise and consternation, he was confronted by Somerset, who appeared at perfect liberty, and as high as ever in the king's favour. The two rivals fiercely retorted the charge of treason upon each other. Somerset accused York of designs upon the crown, and called upon the king to arrest him as a traitor. York replied with equal spirit; but on quitting the royal tent, found himself a prisoner. Somerset would have had his rival led forth to instant execution; but the mild genius of Henry prevailed, and he contented himself with exacting a solemn and public oath of fealty and allegiance from the duke

Fenn's Collection, vol. i.